no? my story on my dinner card is i'm a mysterious american gumbo of love. i know it's kind of world but that's what i said. i'm don lemon from the world headquarters in atlanta. extreme cheerleading is next. tonight on "cnn presents" -- ice wars in the arctic. >> come with me aboard this u.s. nuclear powered submarine as we go underneath the polar ice cap. >> inside the new cold war. extreme cheerleading. defying stereotypes. >> an now it is my life. it is pretty much who i am. >> where winning is the only option. but first -- >> three words that describe "white request" bulger. >> stone cold killer. inside one of the biggest man hunts in fbi history.

the church bells of st. monica near the harbor in south boston have sounded for generations of irish immigrants. it's a tight-knit community that's always protected its own, a place james "whitey" bulger called home. he learned to fight and survive on the mean streets of south boston, known as southy to locals like john shay who, decades later, would work for bulger. >> the guy was legendary. >> he made tough guys shake. he made them shake. >> reporter: bulger's life of crime started early, arrested in his teens, he was robbing banks by age 20. his shock of blonde hair earning him the name "whitey," a name he is said to despite. with his rugged good looks and

reckless flamboyance, he imagined himself as boston's version of jimmy kagny. but instead of red carpets he was headed to alcatraz. a string of bank robberies landing him ten years in federal prison at age 25. did he his time and upon release vowed he would never, ever go back. >> they had no hard proof. >> reporter: "boston globe" reporters dick layered and jared o'neill ultimately reportsed the deal he cut to make sure of that. >> he go out of prison in 1965 and we started doing research in 1988. he hadn't gotten so much as a parking ticket. >> reporter: whitey bulger fresh from prison went to work as a mob enforcer. bup bulger warranted more and federal investigators say he'd stop at nothing to get it. >> then he went on a killing rampage. i think it is like a month. he killed six guys in 1972. >> he was ambitious in making his move.

>> reporter: he was making his move with this man -- steve flemmy, a/k/a the rifle mal. >> back before dna was used to identify victims he'd personally get involved in cutting off the fingers or hands of victims and extracting their teeth. >> reporter: tom fuentes ran the crime squad for fbi headquarters. give me three words to described whitey bulger. >> stone cold killer. >> why kill debbie davis? authorities say because she knew his connection with another kid from southy, john connelly. >> for me it was like meet the ted williams. the idea of equating -- >> gangster to a baseball icon -- >> i think that shows you the kind of twisted values in perception on the world that's part of john connelly.

>> reporter: john connelly grew up in the same housing projects, he was a young am bibs fbi agent. in the '70s and '80s the fbi's number one priority was taken down the italian mafia. >> he did everything including breaking all kinds of laws over the years to keep that alive. >> reporter: in a series of grouped breaking articles for the "boston globe"ing with lair and o'neal uncover what their fbi sources call a dangerous alliance. >> 1976 connelly tipped him off about a rival and bulger killed him. connelly had to realize right away how deadly this was. >> reporter: bulger's criminal enterprise skyrocketed. court documents show bulger knew when police were watching, knew when they were moving in and ultimately knew when to disappear. he was shaking down bookmakers and loan sharks. this was a guy who was a really

bad guy. >> everything that i wanted to be. >> reporter: as his power grew, so did that of his younger brother, billy. >> i just want you to know we are pea all on this open microphone, mr. president. >> reporter: a tough as nails politician well respected as president of the massachusetts state senate. >> how do you beat a guy psycho pack psychopathic. brother in senate. fbi is protecting him. it was one big family living in the projects like this. >> reporter: john shay, now a changed man, once ran bulger's multi-million dollar drug operation. >> growing you up, you had to be a tough kid. >> reporter: he served 12 years in prison rather than break southy's code of silence. >> whitey being a rat. stevie being a rat. and this is what i took an oath to? an oath of honor? it was heartbreaking.

>> reporter: documents show fbi agent connelly continued to feed bulger secret information, at times with deadly results. >> bulger charged with a crime, then he could no longer be an informant. >> reporter: attorney bill christie represents families of several of bulger's victims. this man only gunned down while he left a boston restaurant. according to testimony at a civil trial, fbi agent connelly told bulger where to find him. >> bulger cornered him and shot him 22 times starting from the leg up to his torso, up to his chest. 22 times with no head shot. so he inflicted as much pain as he could and also did it in a fashion that to make sure he knew he would die. >> reporter: in a case of wrong place, wrong time, michael donahue was killing hallorhan a

right home. whose wife and kids to this day blame the fbi for the death. >> john connelly is a big reason why my father is dead. >> there's a hole in your heart when you think about what's going to take place hopefully in the future, and then there's no future with that person so that's pretty gut wrenching feeling. >> reporter: in 1994, whitey bulger's nearly 20-year reign came to an end in what was likely connelly's parting gift, authorities say he alerted bulger to a pending indictment and true to his word that he'd never return to prison, bulger disappeared with his long-time mistress kathleen grieg leading to one of the fbi's greatest embarrassments and one of its largest manhunts. what was whitey bulger's life about? >> power. strength. money. he was like a king, that guy. he was like a king.

coming up -- how one of america's most notorious gangsters remained comfortably hidden for 16 years. >> he became the elvis of gangsters. where do you go to find a super business? you know, the ones who do such a super job, they're backed by the superguarantee®? only superpages®. wherever you are, wherever you're going, you'll find the super business you need. so next time, let the good guys save the day. get the superguarantee®, only at superpages®. in the book ... on your phone or online.

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a place to retire, beaches packed with people, idea toll blend in -- or disappear. that's precisely what whitey bulger did. the reputed crime boss and his long-time girlfriend set up house blocks away from the ocean in a corner apartment partially hidden by trees. bulger had planned ahead knowing he may one day run. says tom fuentes to spent years tracking the fugitives. >> he had millions of dollars in cash. he took off to a number of different countries and cities and put cash in security safe deposit boxes that he could access later and so he didn't need to be contacting people. he could establish a new identity and eventually just take over a new name. >> reporter: that identity, mr.

and mrs. charlie and carol gasco, a self-described chicago businessman and his wife who were into nutrition and long walks and who secretly stuffed stacks of cash and heavy duty assault weapons in their apartment walls. these are your neighbors. >> yeah, that's the way i saw them. >> that's how you always saw them? >> um-hmm. always him with hat. i didn't know if he was bald. >> reporter: this 88-year-old eventually befriended her upstairs neighbors. but there were privacy boundaries you did not cross. like asking the gascos to hold a spare key in case of emergency. >> he says, well let me talk to my wife. he come back and says, no, he doesn't want you to give him anything. we don't want to. >> reporter: by all accounts whitey bulger kept a low profile. he didn't have any problems with

the people who lived on his hall. according to one neighbor he didn't divulge much about himself but did say he had originally come from chicago and had fought in the korean war. that neighbor says a couple of times he caught whitey bulger on his balcony peering out with binoculars. from his crime days, bulger knew the easiest way to get caught was to become complacent so he changed his patterns. even when he came to getting his haircut. says this salon owner. >> i ask him to make appointment but he never did. he just walked in. he never left me any number or anything. >> reporter: in fact, court documents showed bulger and grieg had fake identities. after his arrest, he told authorities he went gambling in las vegas, took trips to tijuana to buy medication and even returned to boston on business telling authorities he was armed

to the tee. all the while the fbi was scrambling to find the gangster who had kruchted bureau agents. former fbi speth agent in charge barry mohn arrived in boston two years after bulger disappeared putting him on the fbi's top ten most wanted list and had him featured on various crime shows, even in a dick tracy comic book. >> we weren't trying to hide him or not find him. if you look at what we did it is impossible to draw that conclusion. official say 12,000 leads came in over 16 years. fuentes leading the fbi's international efforts says they followed up bulger sightings in ireland, london and south america. >> there was thousands of police officers involved in that round-the-clock operation. so o any time there was a sighting of him, worldwide, everybody went full-bore to full up on those leads to try to find in. so in a way he became the elvis

of gangsters, he was constantly being spotted somewhere. >> reporter: the break in the case came in late june after the fbi paid for a public service announcement aimed at finding bulger's girlfriend. it never even aired in los angeles. but a new story led to a crucial tip and an arrest three days later. bulger lured into the garage on a ruse that someone had broken into his locker. these are some of the 30 weapons fbi agents confiscated from bulger's apartment. >> van number one. van number two. >> reporter: after more than 5,000 days on the run, bulger was brought back to boston in handcuffs charged with 19 murders in court he denied them all. the damage he caused to the fbi still haunts the bureau to this day. z in hindsight, do you think the fbi being aed to slowly to follow up on rumors that there was a leak and a dangerous leak that was letting whitey bulger

run free? >> yes. i do think that. >> reporter: how this plays out is anyone's guess. bulger turns 82 in september. le cooperate in stand trial? cut a keel? depends on who you ask. >> at that time -- >> reporter: but his former drug boss john shay, now a writer, says bulger has the feds right where he wants them. >> he's playing them. trust me. psychologically he is playing them. is he giving them information? is he talking to them? you guarantee he is. >> reporter: so why here? why so near the statue of santa monica? consider this -- in south boston, bulger grew up attending the church of st. monica. perhaps it's just a coincidence. perhaps it's a clue. some kind of locator. after all, whitey bulger left

little to chance. next on "cnn presents" -- we explore why the u.s. navy built this remote camp in the frigid arctic. and goes under the ice on a nuclear submarine. and later -- >> no, it's not good. it is not good enough. >> they don't just cheer on the sidelines. >> that's it! >> a team determined to win a world championship at any cost. >> this is it. this is what's going to determine the success of your year. e difference in people's lives. [ carrie ] you're studying how to be an effective leader. [ cherie ] you're dealing with professionals, teaching things that they were doing every day. [ kimberly ] i manage a network of over a thousand nurses. [ carrie ] i helped turn an at-risk school into an award-winning school. [ cherie ] i'm responsible for the largest urban renewal project in utah.

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it's a pleasant 60 degrees at my home in l.a. today. but where i'm going it could be as cold as 60 below zero. every two years the u.s. military conducts an operation in the arctic circle called ice exercise. better known as ice ex. the arctic region consists of eight countries that boardary vast ice-covered ocean. no one country owns the arctic. there are some agreements governing who controls what territory, but as the ice melts,

those lines in the map are changing and each nation is competing to extend its arctic border to claim a greater piece of the valuable high north. i don't really think that often about what's going on in the arctic, but with global warming opening up vast riches of resources, and military exercises with nuclearc converging underneath the polar ice cap i wanted to know what's going on at the top of the ice world, and why. as i launched to the arctic, i talked via skype with an arctic expert, professor rob hubert, about the spike in the region. >> most of the arctic states are moving toward the improvement their combat forces within that region and no one is calling for an arctic war or conflict at this point in time. it is telling that we have two american attack submarines doing scientific research off the coast of alaska. >> reporter: prudhoe bay, alaska, last stop in the u.s. before heading ot ice station.

as it time to get armed with real cold weather gear. >> hopefully everybody's been given one of these books, survival in the arctic. >> the only way to get where we're going is a six-seater bush plane. finally, amidst a sea of arctic ice, we spot the camp. >> how you doing? >> reporter: with the u.s. submarines just below our feet i get my first look at a series of simple wooden huts built in the last two months to protect everyone from the extreme conditions. look at this right here. balmy 10 degrees right now. >> balmy, balmy 10 degrees. >> reporter: about 50 people from sailors to scientists have been adjusting to living at the ice station over the course of the exercise. there's no magazine rack or anything in there and also

importantly is the effectiveness of toilet paper is significantly diminished at nye news 40. >> reporter: just basic survival at the camp is a challenge. you can't go outside without carrying a rifle in case a polar bear attacks. while we were standing on five feet of ice right now, we actually are moving 2 to 4 mirp. it is just floating. over the course of the one-month-long ice exercise it will move about 70 miles just from drift alone. so why am i here? why has the arctic become a hotspot? the world, it's physically clanging beneath my feat. with global warm being the polar ice cap is melting opening up an ocean for the first time since the ice age. this has created access to all kinds of new resources but it's also created competition at the top of the world. i as the arc tech sea opens up, ships sailing from the atlantic to pacific oceans traditionally

relying on the pan that ka nat route can use the northwest p s passage saves hundreds of millions of dollars. a third of the world's natural gas it under the arctic. minerals to diamonds. not everyone believes the quest for resources believes competition. in anchorage i was preebriefed professor. >> there is complexity. can be some friction. but not at a high level of military conflict issues that i would say. >> reporter: professor lawson's colleague from the university of calgary disagrees. >> i think we're on the cusp of being demilitarized. people are thinking much more military terms than they did since the end of the cold war. >> reporter: and back at ice camp, military exercises are indeed under way. >> maverick, roger, this is

atlas. >> reporter: the command hut monitors and communicates with the u.s. submarines 24 hours a day. in the past submarines had to surface to communicate. one of the systems in development allows the base camp to send texts to the submarine under the ice. >> it is almost like a tweet, tweet submarines down here. i'll press in, there's a hydrophone down there that blasts out the sound. it sounds like crickets. >> reporter: we saw an amalgam of testing, acoustics, submarine tracking, sonar all under the umbrella of research. in your opinion what is the purpose? >> it is a scientific basin, it is a nice little cover but the reality is that the american navy is clearly showing that it

is back. >> reporter: this is a land grant. this is the u.s. presence in the high north. but we're not alone. other nations are rapidly building their capabilities in the arctic as well. russia is creating an arctic armed forces. just this month announcing it will deploy two army brigades, including special forces. and it has resumed strategic bomber flights over the north pole. the canadian government is building eight ice strengthened patrol vessels. denmark is deploying f-16s to greenland. the realivalue is not on this desolate sheet of ice i'm sitting on. the real value is beneath the surface. that's where we're going next, on a nuclear submarine underneath the ice. i don't always have time to eat like i should. and the more i focus on everything else, the less time i have to take care of me. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes,

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i'm don lemon live at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. here are your had he lines this hour. the former head of rupert murdoch's british newspaper has reportedly been released on bail after her arrest earlier today. police questioned rebecca brooks over the phone hacking and police bribery scandal at "the news of the world" paper where she was once editor. also today london's police commissioner resigned over his connection to a former executive ed are to haitor of the "news od newspaper." casey anthony is now free but we don't know exactly where. anthony walk out of an orlando jail just after midnight. 12 days ago a jury acquitted her

of murdering her daughter. about 1,000 people were outside the jail in protest. >> security was high. her attorneys say she has had multiple death threats. interstate 405 opened up at noon, 17 hours ahead of schedule. this after the dreaded carmageddon did not happen. that's what people were calling the expected gridlock after ten miles of interstate 405 were shut down for repair. but drivers actually listened and the mayor is hoping for the same results when another shutdown is planned in 11 months. those are your headlines this hour. i i'm don lemon. we now learn to "cnn presents." in 2007, a scientific exploration planted a russian flag at the bottom of the arctic

sea bed. what some publicly dismissed as a political stunt was privately considered in some circles a sputnik-like moment. according to secret leaked cables published by wick kwikil the rest of the world began scrambling to make sure they got a piece of the arctic pie. i observed the escalating tension and activity in the region. oh, yeah, that's brisk. at daybreak we headed out to rendezvous with 1 of the 2 u.s. nuclear submarines patrolling in the arctic. you know, planes, trains and automobiles? the cnn version? ice planes, helicopters and submarines. the helicopter dropped ussate and o and our equipment at the rendezvous site. with no ocean in site hundreds of miles from the nearest cell

phone tower it was hard to imagine how on earth a submarine would find me. >> are we a go for ice man surface? over. >> reporter: an "x" in the ice indicated where the submarine was to surface. then the ground started to rumble. with 18 feet of the 353-foot long sea wolf class sub on the surface, the ground crew takes chain sauce to cut through the ice to the hole. then-commanding officer is first up from the hole. >> this is aamazing. >> reporter: after weeks under water the crew took a few

precious moments of fresh air, then we loaded our gear and headed below deck. a small camera mounted on the top of the submarine was our only visual reference we were making a descent 300 feet below the surface of the polar ice cap. one of the amazings things about a modern submarine is they're almost entirely self-sufficient. like a biodome. they run on nuclear energy which means they can virtually go forever. they make their own oxygen with this oxygen generating plant right here. they even make their own water through a process called hydrolysis where they scrub saltwater. so the only thing that actually limits a submarine is how much food they can carry. 160-man crew doesn't exactly follow a regular schedule. >> the ship is in a six-hour rotation watch. what you end up doing is feeding

the crew four times a day. >> reporter: the submarine operates on an 18-hour day. a sailor gets essentially six hours on watch, six hours off and six hours to sleep before it starts all over again. after our first meal on-board we began navigating the labyrinth passageways of the sub. >> this is basically your home away from home. opens up, we got bunch of treats, you know, different things that you need, all your clothes and magazines, or whatever you bring under way with you. you can bring any kind of snacks or whatever as long as it stays in your rack. you got to keep it in here, keep it clean. >> reporter: space is such a commodity that every nook and cranny is used for something. finally, we descended to level three. we a >> we're taking you down into the heart and soul. >> reporter: this is an attack

submarine designed to be faster and quieter than the russian submarines and carries 50 advanced capability torpedos and tomahawk missiles. while it runs on nuclear pow ter doesn't carry nuclear weapons. its purpose is to find subs that do reminding us of our primary reason for being here. 25 years ago it was common for u.s. and soviet subs to be playing cat and mouse underneath the ice. with the break-up of the soviet union that activity ends. now renewed interest in the arctic has brought new players with rumors of chinese subs operating in the region as well as the old guard u.s. and russia. as all the nations gear up, the "uss connecticut" is prepared for war beneath the sea. >> man battle stations. man battle stations. man battle stations.

>> reporter: this was just a drill but the captain reminded the crew of the larger purpose. >> it's always good to do this even up here while we conduct the exercises under the ice, because this is our main mission, taking this ship into harm's way and protecting our country. so great job getting on station. boo-yah. after traveling thousands of miles on planes, snowmobiles, helicopters, even submarines, we had come to a region influx. what seemed like a cold waste land masked a rapidly clanging environment. vast resources are up for grabs in the arctic. couched in the language of diplomacy, countries are preaching cooperation but simultaneously preparing for conflict. the cold war is over, but as i disembark the submarine, i was left with the feeling that there might be a new type of cold war

under way at the top of the world. ♪ coming up -- dedicated athletes. willing to do whatever it takes to hold on to the world championship title. >> you would expect a football player playing in the super bowl to play even if he had an injury. ♪ [ whistles ] ♪ [ cat meows ] ♪ [ ting! ] [ male announcer ] travelers can help you protect the things you care about and save money with multi-policy discounts. are you getting the coverage you need and the discounts you deserve? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage or visit travelers.com. ♪

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here we go! >> reporter: far from the sidelines after football field, this defies the stereotype of what it means to be a cheerleader. it's called all-star cheerleading. it is as demanding and asletic as many sports. and in a decade it's become wildly popular. fiercely competitive, an for some of the 200,000 young women involved, it's become their world. ♪ >> reporter: 17-year-old mattie gardener is one of the best

all-star cheerleaders in the country. she's been competing since she was 7 years old. >> competitive cheer lead something really more action-packed and more difficult than high school cheerleading. to me, it is my passion. it became my sport. and now it's my life and it's what i do and it's pretty much who i am. >> reporter: she trains year round at cheer extreme in north carolina. one of the largest and most elite all-star cheerleading gyms. >> it is a big commitment to be here every day for three to four hours. i'm doing homework in the car on the way here, i'm doing homework in practice breaks. i'm taking four ap classes so i really set high goals for myself and i think cheerleading has really taught me that, too, don't settle for second-best. >> reporter: do you feel like you've had to sacrifice any of

your teenage years for this sport if. >> i wouldn't want to be anywhere else honestly. i mean this is what i love to do. >> reporter: her coach, courtney poe, says the dedication on mattie's team is as intense as their practices. >> more than 50% of the team live two hours away. that means getting home from school, getting in the koor at 4:00, getting here for practice at 6:00, getting home almost at midnight, starting all over again. >> reporter: her team competes at region aal and national events per forming 2 1/2-minute routines of powerful tumbling, high-flying stunts and impressive teamwork. you are a flyer, the center point flyer. >> i am. >> reporter: what does that mean? >> i am in the center of the routine for the stunting part. you in a way carry the stunt sequence because the judges really focus in on the center of the routine. >> reporter: so what's the most

challenging stunt you do? >> it's called a ball-up 360 tick-to tick-tock. i think it is the most challenging right now on the market. >> reporter: but it's one you nail? >> yeah, most of the time. knock wood. it was the first time anyone had ever done something like that, that skill last year at world's when i perform it. >> reporter: she's talking about the all-star cheerleading world championship. >> it's like a gymnast going to the olympics. you know? that's their ultimate goal. >> reporter: last year mattie's stunt helped her team win a gold medal for the first time. >> it was kind of just like all this emotion exploded and i was kind of threw my body on to the floor and it was really emotional. just relief. knowing that everything that i work for for the past couple years had paid off.

>> reporter: the team's success turned mattie into a cheerlebrity. now hundreds of fans want to be friends with her on facebook. >> i have 960 friend requests right now. >> reporter: with the 2011 championship just weeks away, mattie's team is countsing on her to help them win gold again. you guys are going in as reigning world champions this year. >> yeah. >> pressure must be intense. >> i definitely feel like it's harder to hold on to the top spot than it was climbing to the top last year. so it's definitely stressful. >> reporter: mattie feels the pressure perhaps more than anyone. she is still haunted by a devastating fall at the world championship in 2009. the team's mistakes cost them the gold. mattie blames herself. >> you know, it's still in the

back of my mind even though you try to push it out. i felt like i ruined it for everybody which is some hard feelings to go through. >> three, two, one! >> reporter: so mattie pushes herself even harder. but just weeks before this year's competition, a sudden setback. >> they told me that i had sprained my acl and that other ligament. hopefully i'll be able to practice for the rest of the time leading up to worlds. a real person will be there to help you. then you can use geico.com to view photos of the damage, track your claim, print an estimate. you want an english muffin? they literally hand you a toasted muffin with butter and jam. (sigh) whaa. tasty. that's, that's a complete dramatization of course, but you get my point. vo: geico 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

welcome to practice! be ready! here we go! >> come on! come on! >> come on, guys! come on! stay with it! >> we already know that's a mistake. you need to fix it. try it again. >> the world championship of all-star cheer lead something just weeks away and cheer extreme's chances of holding on to the title suddenly seem to be slipping away. team star, mattie gardener, is sitting on the sidelines with a painful knee injury. >> it's really hot.

it feels like fire honestly. when i first got hurt i said it felt like a hot knife and it kind of is a milder version of that. it was definitely bad timing. i fell out after stunt, already tore my acl which would have been really bad. >> reporter: after missing a week of training, mattie cautiously takes the mat and works through the pain. >> the more i do, the worse it gets. i mean i probably shouldn't be doing as much but it will be worth it in the end. mattie's ready to do whatever it takes to hold on to their title. for the next three weeks, the team will spend four to five days a week in the gym, practicing for perfection. >> now! >> where with their coach courtney pope. >> who remembers the practice

for four hours where i stood right here an we fixed every single person this way. >> reporter: every step has to be in sync. >> it is not together. this is no more synchronized than it was in january when we made it up. >> reporter: ever flip, flawless. >> no, it's not good and it's not good enough. >> reporter: they will do it over an over until they get it right. >> no. you're exhausted, right? but these are the moments. do the stunt again tired and mean it. here we go. >> reporter: as the championship approaches, mattie's determination gets strong er. what are you going to do at world if your knee is acting up? >> you would expect a football player to play in the super bowl to play even if he had an injury. and it's the same thing to me. i mean this is the only fix of our sport so obviously i'm going to get through it.

we're not going to let anything stop us this year. >> please welcome the cheer extreme all-stars senior elite. >> reporter: saturday, april 30th, 2011. the first day of the world championship. after an impressive performance, mattie gardener feels confident going into finals the next day. >> everything was perfect! everything hit, we were on time. ♪ >> it was synchronizesynchroniz. all the stunts wrup. it was just unbelievable. >> reporter: but the mood suddenly changes when the team learns they're in third place. >> hey, hey, hey, hey. >> i no he that we are disappointed in the ranking but

the reality is that close, do you want to go to third? >> no! >> do you want to fix it? >> yes. >> reporter: desperate to hold on to their title, they want to practice now. but it's near midnight and there are no open gyms. >> one, two, three and four, five, six, seven, eight. >> reporter: so they wake up early for an emergency practice on the golf course behind their hotel. >> can you not like be a jack russell terrier that decides you are going to get to your pyramid spot faster than anybody else. >> reporter: mattie is pushing through the pain in her knee. >> you can't help but think this is it. this is what's going to determine the success of your year. >> reporter: no more time to practice. now it's game time. >> i watched your team 700 trillion times and i know we can be even better. got it? i know we can.

you've got to talk about it and let's all just admit that like we're terrified. we're not like -- you can't practice to a point where we absolutely have this because who knows what's going to happen. >> reporter: backstage the team tries to calm their nerves. >> get it get it got it got it senior elite! >> we are senior elite. >> go get it, ladies! >> reporter: it begins near perfect. then, mattie's famous stunt -- comes crashing down.

watching the replay is tough. it wasn't the team's only mistake. and they know the gold medal is probably out of reach. walk me through what happened here at worlds today. >> i mean i felt ready but you didn't feel like i knew i should. first part of the routine was just awesome. when it came to my specialty stunt, they kind of went bad. i don't really know what happened. >> we are moving on to the globes. the top three teams. the bronze champion -- cheer extreme all-stars. >> reporter: after all the dedication, sweat and sacrifice, it's hard to hear they aren't world champions. their rivals take home the gold.

>> it's hard not to feel like it was your fault. pretty much going into this all we had to do was hit and we could win and that just -- it wasn't happening for us. >> mattie, she'll be fine. mattie's a brilliant, genius and it takes setbacks and, you know, disappointments to really get to the best of who we all can be. and she's going to be something fantastic. >> reporter: it is an emotional end to a year of intense pressure and grueling training. but practice is starting all over for the next season. and mattie will go for the gold again. >> maybe now that we're not on top we can come back next year and take it back but we'll just see what happens. i wouldn't consider not coming back for a second. it's -- it's just who i am. i have to prove myself again now.